After the War
by SMH
Summary: Over twenty-years after the war, Harry Potter must deal with teenage children, strained friendships, a new Minister and the fear that he and his family are not as safe as once thought.
1. Chapter 1

"I see your folks made the front of Witch Weekly," Scorpius said.

Albus Potter cringed and grabbed the copy his friend was waving in his face to find his parents, Harry and Ginny Potter gracing the cover with his Aunt and Uncle, Hermione and Ron Weasley.

Albus began flipping through the magazine, still cringing.

"Relax, it's not like they talk about you much," Scorpius said, lighting a cigarette.

"Watch it. The prefects are monitoring smoking apparently," Albus said, turning to look around the school lawn. "Some girl in Huffelpuff got suspended."

"For smoking?" Scorpius asked, taking a drag.

Albus nodded and kept reading the magazine.

"Did you even read this?" Albus asked.

"No," Scorpius laughed. "But I knew it would bother you."

Albus turned around and glared at his friend.

"What's it about?" Scorpius asked.

"Anniversary of the battle. They'll be up here tomorrow for it," Albus said. "Is your dad coming?"

"Why? To remind everyone who he sided with? No, thank you."

Albus laughed.

"He's changed though, right?"

"Of course!" Scorpius said, slightly offended. He kept smoking while looking out onto the lawn at his fellow students. "Oh, shit. Your brother's coming."

Scorpius threw his cigarette in the grass behind him and leaned up against the same tree that Albus had chosen to lean against.

James Potter was headed their way, his prefect badge gleaming in the sunlight.

"Albus!" he said crossly. Albus looked up from his book to see his brother.

"What?"

"Were you smoking?" James asked.

"No, James," Albus said.

James stared at Scorpius. "You?"

"Merlin, no!" Scorpius said.

James nodded, squinting at them as the sun hit his eyes.

"Ready for the match tomorrow?" Albus asked his brother.

"Hope so," James said, walking closer.

"Lily playing?"

"Yeah."

"Mum'll be happy," Albus said, smiling.

"Yeah. Well, I'll see you guys on the pitch tomorrow," James said, turning to leave.

Scorpius looked down to Albus.  
"You two are so cold to one another," Scorpius said. "It's sad."

Albus shrugged and pulled his own pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and began to smoke.

Lily Potter sat across the lawn staring at her brother while he smoked. Her friends sat close to her while they all studied for their final exams.

"I can't believe your brother hangs out with Scorpius Malfoy," her one friend, Cora said.

"He's not that bad," Lily said.

Her cousin Rose sat next to her, observing the conversation.

"He's not very nice to James or Hugo though," Rose said.

"That's because James and Hugo deserve it," Lily said.

"Deserve it?

"You've met them. They're terrifying together," Lily said.

"They are not," Cora said.

"That's because you have a crush on Hugo," Lily said.

"You what?" Rose asked.

"I do not!" Cora said. She stood quickly and took her books, leaving their study group.

"She has a crush on my brother, gross," Rose said.

"At least you don't have to deal with Meredith or Katie,"

"Negligent!" Ginny yelled, slamming an article down on Harry's desk. "Me!"

"Yes, I know," Harry said, picking up the article.

Their article in Witch Weekly ran the same day as an article in Warlock Monthly ran about Ginny's skills as a mother. In the article, she was called negligent, saying she pawns her children off on her mother.

"Just calm down, Gin," Harry said.

"No!" she yelled.

A knock came at Harry's office door. It was Ron.

"Hey, Gin," he said, entering the office. Ginny kissed her brother hello on the cheek and then Ron shook Harry's hand.

"I have to go start packing," Ginny said.

"See you at home," Harry said, smiling.

Ginny kissed him quickly and then exited the office. Harry stared at her out the door and waited until she was out of ear shot to begin his conversation with Ron.

"She's gone mental over that Warlock Monthly article," Harry said.

"Can you blame her?" Ron asked.

"No, but I don't know what to do!"

Ron shrugged.

"I saw Malfoy a bit ago," Ron said.

"Oh yeah? What'd he want?"

"He wanted to know if you had any free time today."

"Why?"

"Said he needed to talk to you. Didn't say about what though," Ron said.

"That's odd," Harry said.

"Hello?" a girl's voice said meekly. Harry and Ron turned around to look at the door for a moment. A pretty blonde girl was standing in the door frame, wearing dress robes.

"Anna, right?" Harry asked her. The girl nodded.

"I'll see you later, mate," Ron said, exiting.

"Tell Malfoy to stop by whenever," Harry said. Ron nodded and the girl walked further into the office upon his exit.

"Anna Growland?" Harry asked.

"Yes, sir," she said, shaking his hand.

Harry stood from his desk to walk to a file cabinet. He pulled out a folder and began to read from it, looking over her personnel file.

"Nice to meet you," he said, looking over her personnel file.

"Same to you. It's an honor."

"Do you know why you're here?" Harry asked her, sitting down and drawing up a chair for her.

She shook her head.

"I need a new assistant," he said blatantly. "And your name kept coming up a lot from the academy. And I—"

"With all due respect, sir. I can't."

"Excuse me?"

"I have a younger brother and sister to take care of. They're muggles. I need to put them through University soon and—"

"You're a muggle born? They didn't tell me that," Harry said. "Muggle borns make better Aurors in my opinion. They've seen more of the world than anyone else. They know human nature a little bit better."

"Sir—"

"I want you for this job, Anna."

"Sir, I—"  
"Consider your brother and sister's schooling to be paid for. You will receive a five percent increase than what regular first years receive. Do you understand?"

Anna nodded.

"I thought you had an assistant though, Mr. Potter?" Anna said.

"I have eight," Harry replied.

"Eight?"

"Yes, you will be in charge of all of them," he said.

"I—"

"You're more qualified than the rest of them, trust me," Harry said.

At that moment, one of the eight entered the room and waved his arms in a clock-like motion and then left the office promptly. Harry sighed.

"What was that?"

"That's the sign that my godson is coming," Harry said.

Teddy Lupin, twenty-three now entered the office wearing sunglasses and wearing disheveled clothing.

"Hello," he mumbled, leaning up against the wall.

"Hi," Harry said, smiling. "I'm in the middle of something, Teddy."

Teddy looked to Anna.

"Oh."

"That's OK. I can go," Anna offered.

"We've got to get the school anyway, Harry," Teddy said, looking down at his watch.

"I'm sorry. We'll get to more of this on Monday," Harry said to Anna. Anna and Harry stood, shaking hands.

"Say, you two know each other?" Harry asked, gesturing between Anna and Teddy.

"No."

"We went to school together, actually," Anna corrected him.

"I drank a lot in school," Teddy replied, flipping up his sunglasses to look at Anna properly.

"Like a fish. I remember. You threw up on a house elf when I was a sixth year," Anna said, smiling.

"You told me that wasn't true," Harry shot at Teddy.

Teddy grinned.

"I was young, Harry," Teddy laughed. Teddy kept staring at Ann though. "I don't remember you that much."

"Well, how could you with your tongue down every other girl's throat?"

"I like you already," Harry laughed. "Can already keep up with everyone else's wit."

"And how did I manage to not notice you?" Teddy asked, ignoring Harry.

Anna laughs. "I hung out in the library a lot and only dated Quidditch players."

"Did I date one of your roommates?"

"You stood one up once and gave on of the other ones a pregnancy scare," Anna said.

"Ahh, youth," Teddy said, looking at Harry. Harry shook his head at his god son.

"I'll see you Monday, Mr. Potter," Anna said.

"Bye, Anna," Harry said.

After Anna had left, Harry swatted Teddy on the arm.

"What is wrong with you?"  
"Harry, I was a fall down drunk during school. What do you expect?" Teddy asked.

"Speaking of that, how was your meeting today," Harry asked.

"Good."

"You went?"

"Yep."

"You lying?"  
"Nope. I even took Andrew with me as a sponsor," Teddy said.

"Good."

"We're going to be late. Ginny's going to be mad," Teddy said.

"Oh, right," Harry said, looking down at his watch. He grabbed his things and just as he was about to leave, Draco Malfoy walked into Harry's office.

"Oh, you're leaving!" Malfoy noted. "I thought Weasley—"

"He did. I'm sorry. I forgot," Harry said, putting his things back down. "Teddy, wait outside."  
"Why?"

"Just wait outside," Harry instructed.

Teddy rolled his eyes and then exited the office, shutting the door.

The years had been kind to Malfoy. He was still handsome in the face and still had a glorious head of blond hair. After the war, he managed to find a job with the Ministry while his father and mother served time in Azkaban. Draco himself finished his Hogwarts degree and then spent years with the Ministry of Magic, trying to reach it to the top without his past creeping up on him.

"God son giving you trouble?" Malfoy asked.

"No more than usual," Harry laughed.

"I talked to Scorpius yesterday. He said they're ready for the match tomorrow," Draco said.

Harry nodded.

"He's a good captain from what I hear," Harry said.

"I think it's kind of ironic. Don't you?" Draco said to Harry, smiling.

"What?"

"That you and I were probably the worst enemies that Hogwarts has ever seen and our sons are best friends."

"Albus is a good kid. And from what he has told me about Scorpius, it seems as if he is too," Harry said nicely.

"Good. With that being said, I'm here to warn you," Draco said promptly.

Harry laughed a bit. "Warn me?"

"Yes."

"About what?"

"The Minister," he replied. Harry turned his head a little and started paying attention to him.

"Percy? I think I know what to expect from my own brother-in-law. Thanks though."

"The new minister, Potter," Draco said quietly.

"What about him?"

Harry had heard rumblings about the new Minister who was due to take office in two weeks.

"Seems he wants to…bring about the old ways."

"The old ways?"

"The ways that my father used to want," Draco said, leveling with him a bit.

"How do you know this? I mean, I've heard rumors. But rumors are rumors," Harry said.

"He and my father are old friends. Grew up together. Their parents were all friends."

"Draco, please, we already won the war. There's enough people to overtake any kind of uprising that—"

"Less than you'd think."

"What do you mean?"

"Children of Death Eaters want their revenge, Potter. And they want it on you and the Weasley family. And former Minister Shackelbolt and anyone that was associated with Dumbledore."

"The new Minister isn't a child of a former Death Eater," Harry said. "You are."

"Potter, I was a Death Eater. You know that. Everyone knows that. That's why I have a low-paying job and am at the bottom of the Ministry food chain—hence why you, Dumbledore's golden boy, is the highest paid Ministry faculty member next to the Minister himself."

"What is your point, _Draco_?" Harry asked, getting irritated very quickly now.

"My point is, that this Ministry, will end up worse than Scrimgeour's ended."

Harry nodded and said, "Anything else?"

"You're going away this weekend right? The Anniversary of the Battle?"

"It's Saturday. Why?"

"You're spending the whole weekend at Hogwarts?"

"Yes."

"Now, I know that if I were the new Minister, I'd be walking through every department of the Ministry this weekend then—with all the heads of the departments at Hogwarts. The Auror department in particular. All changes that are going to be made Potter, will start with your department—because he wants the boy who lived on his side more than anything."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Lily Potter sat outside studying for her final exams by the lake. Her friends had all gone inside for dinner already, but she still needed to perfect a charm.

The lawns had a few stragglers lingering on the grounds, all still studying. Lily was probably the only third year on the grounds; everyone else had given up on this particular charm. They were turn a blade of grass into a sword.

"Swish your wand a little bit more," a voice said. Lily looked up and saw Richard Biel, a sixth year and friend of her brother James's was now standing over her trying to read her text book.

Lily tried the technique with her wand, and the grass became a sword immediately.

"Impressive," he said, sitting down. "Most seventh years can't even do that."

Lily smiled.

"You look very pretty today," Richard said.

"Thank you," she replied, blushing slightly. Lily looked at Richard and noticed that his eyes were tired, his face flushed and that his speech had been a little slurred. He had been drinking.

"You excited for the match?"

"Uh…not really," Lily replied. "My…my father's coming and he's not too keen on me playing Quidditch."  
"Why?"

"Thinks my brothers play too rough."  
"Wasn't your mother a Quidditch player?"

"Yes. Apparently that means nothing. He has to protect me," Lily laughed.

Richard inched closer to her, causing Lily to grow a little uncomfortable.

"So um…you and Rupert ended things, then?" Richard asked.

Lily looked at him in surprise. "Oh. Yeah. Months ago."

"Good."

"Good?" she asked skeptically.

"You deserve someone nice."

"He was nice."

Richard shrugged, still coming closer to her, this time putting his arm around her waist.

"You know I've always had a thing for you," Richard said.

Lily held up her arms in protest, but Richard leaned forward and kissed her. She pushed him away.

"What are you doing?"

"C'mon, Lily. You know you've always had a thing for me," he said softly.

Lily pushed him back again as he leaned in.

"Stop it!" she yelled, standing up.

Richard stood up as well, towering over her. He grabbed her hands and held tightly.

"Get away from me, Richard," she said forcefully. "You're drunk."  
"Am I?" he asked quizzically.

"Yes. Please stop or I'll get James," she threatened.

"Oooh, I'm scared of your prefect brother," he lamented.

"Fine, I'll tell Albus," she said. Richard instantly let go of her hands.

Lily leaned over to pick up her books and walked off, leaving Richard drunk on the lawn.

Lily arrived in the Great Hall to find that the survivors of the second war had arrived for their weekend to celebrate the final battle; dozens and dozens of witches and wizards in dress robes.

Her mother and father were standing close to the Gryffindor table talking with a few Ministry officials. Her father looked particularly bored, while her mother smiled cordially. Her grandparents were chatting with people. All of her uncles had made it, with their respective wives.

Lily spotted her cousin Rose and sat down.

"I didn't think they'd be here yet," Lily said.

"Dad said they came for dinner," Rose shrugged. "Where's Albus?"

Lily looked around the Great Hall and could not spot her older brother. "I don't know."

"Oh! There he is!" Rose said. She pointed across the hall where Albus was talking with Teddy Lupin.

"Your dad was looking for him," Rose said.

"I guess it's kind of hard to keep track when all your kids aren't in Gryffindor," Lily admitted.

Yes, her brother was a Slytherin. After generations of Potters in Gryffindor, Albus became the first Slytherin. His father had told him that the Sorting Hat takes personal choice into consideration. On that particular September 1st, Albus met a girl on the train. Her name was Katie. She was beautiful with blonde hair and fair skin with hazel eyes. She was perfect in his mind. And she told him she wanted to be a Slytherin—and after she told him that, he wanted to be a Slytherin as well. They were friends for the first two years of school, and by third year, they had become boyfriend and girlfriend. In the middle of fifth year, however, Albus began growing restless in his relationship and broke it off.

As Albus spoke with Teddy, Katie approached them, tapping Albus on the shoulder.

"Can I talk to you?"  
"Hi, Katie," Teddy said nicely.

"Hi," she said in response.

"I'm going to go find your dad," Teddy said. Albus nodded and turned to talk to Katie.

"What's up?"

"In private," Katie said, grabbing his hand and leading him out of the Great Hall. She walked him to an empty classroom and closed the door.

"Your mother said hello to me. She sought me out. She asked me why I didn't come around for Easter, which is odd…because you and I broke up in February."

"Oh, Kate—"

"You didn't tell your mother we broke up? That's embarrassing for me!"

"Embarrassing?"

"Yes!"

"How?"

"I didn't know what to say! So I went along with it and told her I went to my own mum and dad's! Why didn't you tell her we broke up! When she sees me with Thomas, she's going to—"

"Thomas?" Albus asked.

"Yes," Katie said defiantly.

"Thomas Fairview?"

"Yes!"

"He's a moron!"

"He is not!"

"What about us?" Albus asked, pointing at her.

"There is no us! You made that very clear!" she yelled. "You can't just break up with me out of the blue and be shocked that I've found someone!"

"Well, I haven't dated anyone!" Albus yelled back.

"Oh, really? What about those looks you give your brother's girlfriend?" Katie asked as she headed toward the door.  
"Excuse me?"

"Everyone knows you have a thing for Meredith. Even James does!"

"We're like brother and sister!" he said.

"No. Those looks you give her. I know those looks. You used to give me those looks. That look says, 'I want to shag you!'"

With that, Katie stormed out of the classroom, leaving Albus alone to ponder.

Meredith Coulter was James's girlfriend of one year. And in that year, Albus found himself spending time with her in Ancient Runes—and liked it.

Albus's train of thought was ruined when Scorpius Malfoy entered the room.

"You ready for our meeting?" Scorpius asked.

"Hmm? Our meeting with the team," Scorpius said.

"Oh! Right! Forgot!" Albus said absent-mindedly as he walked out of the room with Scorpius.

"Some co-captain you are."

"I'm distracted. I'm sorry," Albus apologized.

"Katie told you about her and Thomas, huh?"

"You knew?"

"Of course I knew. The whole school knows. She's snogging him all over the place," Scorpius said as they walked back through the Great Hall.

"I've got to say goodnight to my parents," Albus said.

"I figured. I'll meet you back in the common room."  
"OK," Albus replied. Scorpius took off in search of the rest of their teammates, while Albus searched through the sea of robes to find his parents.

He found his brother, James and Meredith standing in a corner sipping on drinks while they waited for Harry and Ginny to finish saying hello to someone.

"Hey, you two," Albus said, walking up from behind them and putting his arms around their necks.

"Hi," James said. "Where've you been?"

"Oh uh…"  
"I saw you and Katie together. Are you a couple again?" Meredith asked hopefully.

"Merlin, no. How long you been waiting on them?" Albus asked, leering his head toward his parents.

"A few minutes," James said.

"Any idea who the bloke is?" Albus asked, looking past his parents to see a very elderly gentleman with a long beard chatting with his parents.

"He said his name was Cattermole," Meredith said.

"Oh. I know that story," Albus laughed. "I wanted to say goodnight, but I've got a meeting to go to."  
"A meeting? For what?"

"Quidditch. Remember? We do have a match tomorrow against a rather sub-par team," Albus sneered.

"Oh do you? So do the Gryffindors," James said cheekily.

"Please stop. Both of you," Meredith asked.

"Tell Mum and Dad goodnight for me. I'll see you in the morning," Albus said, patting James on the back. "G'night, Meredith."

"Goodnight," she said politely.

Albus abandoned his brother and Meredith with his parents and Mr. Cattermole.

Meredith looked to James and smiled. "Think you'll really win tomorrow?"

"Think I won't?" James asked.

"It's just a lot of pressure, is all," Meredith reasoned.

"Why do you say that?" James asked, backing Meredith further into the corner.

"First of all it's you and Albus playing each other. You're very competitive. Secondly, your parents are here."

"So?"

"Thirdly, Lily's playing and you're going to want to be protective of her in case a Bludger comes her way," Meredith said. "And fourthly, there's the scouts."

James had been touted as the next great Quidditch player of his generation. Many teams were sending scouts out to Hogwarts to watch the game to see if James was professional material.

"If anything, Albus makes me a better player," James admitted.

"James!" they heard. James and Meredith turned to see James's oldest cousin Victoire coming toward them. And just as she reached them, so did Teddy Lupin..

"Oh, Vic," Teddy said, looking over to her.

"I was trying to see my cousin," Victoire said to Teddy.

"And I was trying to talk to my friend," Teddy said. He looked quickly to Meredith. "My friend, Melinda."

"Her name's Meredith," James corrected.

"That's my pet name for her. Melinda. Right?"

"Right," Meredith said hesitantly.

"Teddy, what are you doing here?" Vic asked him.

"I could ask you the same question," he said.

"I was hoping you wouldn't be here," Vic said.

"Yes, why would I come to eternal resting place of my parents?" Teddy said.

"Sorry," Vic mumbled.

"You doing well?" he asked.

"Yes. You?"

"Yes," he answered.

"Good. I have to go. Goodbye, James. My parents are expecting me," Vic said. With that, Victoire left to find her parents.

"That was cold," James said, patting Teddy on the back.

"Shut up," Teddy said.

Teddy and Vic had dated for two years while Teddy was going through his "troubled" years as Harry liked to refer to them. He drank too much. Did too many drugs. And never paid any mind to his girlfriend. And by the time he was on the straight and narrow, Vic wanted nothing to do with him.

"I'm going to bed," Teddy said promptly.

"We should too," James said, patting Meredith on the arm.

James and Meredith interjected Harry and Ginny's conversation with Mr. Cattermole and went to bed.

Harry was growing weary of the thank yous Mr. Cattermole kept saying. He and Ginny eventually excused themselves to their quarters.

"I think Katie and Albus broke up," Ginny said, brushing her teeth.

"What makes you say that?"

"I don't know. Weird feeling," she said.

"You think James is ready for the scouts tomorrow?"

"Yes. Of course."

"You know, one of us should really cheer for Al tomorrow."

"I was planning on it," Ginny said.

"Yeah, but secretly hoping that Gryffindor wins, right?"

"No," she said, eyeing him.

Harry laid back into his pillows.

"Merlin, these are uncomfortable."

"You're just restless. You hate being here. I know you do," Ginny observed.

"I do not hate being here."

"It brings up bad memories. You should hate being here. It'd be weird if you didn't," she said.

Harry stared at his wife as she crawled into bed next to him. She leaned up and kissed him softly.

"I love you."

"Love you too," Harry said. "And I don't hate being here. Some of the best times of my life were spent in this school."  
"And some of the most horrific," Ginny said. "Like us in the Chamber of Secrets. Or Hermione being petrified! Dumbledore's death. Snape's death. The battle in general—"  
"Which is why we're here. Please stop it," Harry said. "You're not going to goad me into…sharing."

"Yes, it is such a bad thing to share things with your wife," Ginny said. "A wife who was also present for this said battle."

"I didn't—"

"Good night," Ginny said, cutting him off.

Hours later, Harry found himself still awake. He left Ginny in bed and traveled down to the kitchen, using the old passageways he had been taught as a boy.

In the kitchen, however, he was not alone. Ron and Hermione were awake having a midnight snack.

"We knew you'd be down," Ron said, tossing Harry an apple.

"Couldn't sleep," he said.

"Us either," Hermione said.

"Ginny thinks I hate being here."

"Well, she's right," Ron said.

"Yeah, but I don't want her to know that," Harry laughed.

"We all hate it here anymore," Hermione said.

Harry took a large bite out of his apple.

"Everywhere I look in the Great Hall I see a dead body," Harry said.

"I'm sure Ginny does too," Ron said.

"Yeah, but…she didn't cause it," Harry said.


End file.
